Lang is a specialty insurance broker who realized several years back that he was never more popular than when political candidates needed money.

He grew particularly discouraged when he couldn't convince those politicians that democracy dissolves when a select group of people finance -- and manipulate -- the campaigns.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., promised to work with Lang to find a solution, then never followed through. Mary Nolan -- now running for city council -- argued that if he didn't continue writing checks to liberals, the bad guys would win. Steve Novick took him for a ride to Eugene and, Lang estimates, logged 150 cash calls on the 90-minute drive.

He'd given up hope, Lang said, that change was possible. Then he had lunch with Rofsky, president of Better World Club and a former attorney for Ralph Nader's Public Citizen.

Rofsky has long pitched campaign finance reform and castigated the Supreme Court for its 2010 Citizens United decision, which opened the floodgate on Super Pacs and independent expenditures.

They didn't stop there. On the eve of the May 15 primary, they asked that trio, along with Nolan and Amanda Fritz, if they would agree to cap total expenditures and individual contributions.

Hales was the last of the group to respond, possibly because he dismissed his entire campaign staff, save Kaufman, after emerging from the primary as front-runner.

On June 8, Kaufman met with Lang, whom she has known for years, and Rofsky.

Rofsky said she informed them that Hales was open to an agreement that included an overall cap, an individual cap and a disincentive on independent expenditures modeled after the one reached in the contentious U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts between Sen. Scott Brown and his Democratic rival, Elizabeth Warren.

Rofsky and Lang then took those proposals to the Smith campaign, hoping to negotiate an agreement between the two candidates.

Smith -- who has been much more vocal than Hales on the need for reform -- was psyched.

"An agreement is way more interesting than a unilateral move," he wrote in an email.

There was back-and-forth, some fine-tuning. When Lang asked Kaufman whether Hales would agree to a $400,000 cap on expenditures, Kaufman left him a voice mail Tuesday, saying, "We are willing to consider your number." She mentioned the need to eliminate self-funding, then said, "Why don't you call me back tomorrow?"

On the morrow, the Hales campaign announced a Thursday morning news conference.

"I have been told by paranoid (but not stupid) people that Liz will string us along, and then move on her own," Smith wrote in an email to Rofsky and Lang Wednesday night. "I am relying on Jeff L's relationship and faith in her that we are operating in good faith."

Lang's response? "Relax."

"I was the conduit to Liz Kaufman," he tells me. "I said she would not do that."

Rofsky and Lang were stunned. Rofsky said Kaufman led them to believe they were close to a historic agreement.

"We were going to the altar together on campaign finance reform," Lang said.

"We are extremely disappointed that Charlie, for his own advantage, would scuttle the deal," Rofsky said. "One cynical way to look at this is Liz and Charlie were stringing Jefferson along through us."

Kaufman described Lang and Rofsky as late arrivals to the discussion -- "These guys just appeared on 4-25" -- who were overmatched by the issue's complexity.

What's more, Kaufman added, "There was never a representation to me that this was a formal negotiation process. From my point of view, they were conducting a long discussion that could have gone on forever."

In another voice mail to Lang, minutes before the Hales' news conference began, Kaufman told the long-time activist, "I wanted to make sure you know that your work has paid off. And I hope you take a victory lap. Charlie has bought it. He's in ... I think Jefferson is likely to come up with something similar or his own deal, but we don't care ...

"The point is to act and not just keep talking about it."

Rofsky disagrees. He thought Hales and Smith -- two Democrats -- had the opportunity to reach an accord that would be much harder to achieve in a partisan campaign. And he noted that Hales refused to commit to an overall cap on expenditures, even though Smith is amenable to one, or take a stab at discouraging independent expenditures.

"This could have been a model for other races in the country," Rofsky said. "And that's been lost."

Right along with the idealism of two guys who made the mistake of diving into Portland politics with the best of intentions.